Two Chinese ride-sharing platforms said to raise $730 million

What happened: Ride-hailing platform Caocao Zhuanche, backed by Chinese automaker Geely, and EvCard, an electric vehicle rental service under state-owned SAIC Motor, are about to raise significant funds, according to Reuters sources. Caocao which uses Geely’s electric cars is aiming to raise up to RMB 3 billion ($437 million) at a valuation of about $3 billion, while EvCard might raise RMB 2 billion ($292 million). The names of the investors have not been published. The companies are yet to confirm the news.

Why it’s important: The new funding can be seen as support for both the electric vehicles market and ride-sharing and ride-hailing services. EV startups NIO, WM Motor and Xpeng Motor have all raised billions of dollars from investors including Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent. But ride-sharing has also seen steady investment despite Didi’s dominance in the Chinese market. Caocao raised $156 million in January this year, while its competitors Shouqi and Ucar have also raised hundreds of millions of dollars within the past year.